An attempt to appoint a Swedish vice consul to Bucharest (1834-1835)

The economic development of Sweden at the end of the second decade of the nineteenth century accentuated the interest of the Swedish ruling circles to valorize the new economic potential. A series of measures, as the dissolution of the terrestrial customs between Sweden and Norway in 1825, or the abolition of the protectionist policy in imports, opened the way for the conclusion of certain commercial treaties with other states, such as that with Great Britain in 1826 or with the Ottoman Empire in 1827. Consequently, the commercial fleet, especially the Norwegian one, registered a substantial development. In this context, the Swedish diplomacy continued to pay close attention to Eastern Europe where favorable conditions for the extension of the foreign trade of Sweden and Norway could be found. This space, where the Romanian Principalities were located, had a geostrategic position and economic potential that had to be valorized. In order to achieve this goal, Sweden appointed consuls and vice consuls in the Romanian Principalities. The attempt to appoint a vice consul to Bucharest between 1834 and 1835 circumscribes this effort. The information regarding these demarches came from Swedish diplomatic reports, held in the funds of the National Archives of Sweden (Sveriges Riksarkivet), from Stockholm and offers, among many other details which may serve to broaden the horizon of the research regarding the history of Romanian-Swedish relations in the first half of the nineteenth century, an image of the Lutheran community from the capital of Wallachia.